About 60 percent of Medi-Cal caregivers earn income below or near the federal poverty level, a UCLA researcher told the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Tuesday.

“We found by any economic measures, these caregivers are economically insecure,” Geoffrey Hoffman, a researcher at UCLA’s Center for Health Policy Research and co-author of “Hidden in Plain Sight,” told the board.

“Compared to other Californians, they had much higher rates of poverty.”

The federal poverty level for a single person is $931 per month.

The study – which was funded at least in part by Service Employees International Union, a union that represents long-term care workers – highlights the vulnerability of in-home supportive services workers paid under a jointly-funded state and local program that reimburses family members, friends and other caregivers.

In addition to earning on average about half of what non-caregivers earn, the workers have high job turnover and are twice as likely to lack health insurance as non-caregivers, according to the report.

The union representing long-term care workers has petitioned the board to raise wages to $9.65 per hour from $9. Beacon Economics, asked by the union to study the impact of a wage increase, estimated that it would boost the local economy by $90 million and create more than 700 jobs.

Gov. Jerry Brown’s budget proposal calls for cutting $125.3 million from the state program by eliminating some services for people in shared living arrangements and minors living with an able parent.